Some artists find their sound. Others let their audience name it for them. For Aníbal de los Reyes, the Mexican singer-songwriter and guitarist who recently landed a collaborative feature with Fender, the genre “Math Pop” started as a playful experiment, a reimagining of his own song, and became the defining frame for one of Latin alternative’s most interesting emerging voices.
His Spotify bio reads simply: “Hago canciones tristes” — I make sad songs. But the way he makes them is anything but straightforward. His music bends indie pop songwriting through the rhythmic complexity of math rock, producing tracks that feel emotionally direct and structurally inventive at the same time. It’s exactly the kind of guitar-forward artistry that caught Fender’s attention.
His breakthrough came through Algo Temporal, a song he reworked into a math pop arrangement that took on a life of its own. The reissue, along with a version featuring Micro TDH, now sits as his most-streamed track, over 264,000 plays on Spotify, followed closely by Casi Nada with more than 200,000. The math pop rearrangement itself has crossed 235,000 streams, confirming that his audience didn’t just tolerate the stylistic detour: they came specifically for it.
ANIBAL is one third of Pando, the independent band he’s part of alongside two collaborators, but his solo catalog has developed its own momentum. Releases in 2025, including Algo Temporal, its multiple versions, Casi Nada, Arrepentirse, Quisiera, and Desaparecer — show an artist moving quickly and iterating in public, letting his community shape the direction of his work in real time.
That combination of guitar craft and online transparency is what most likely caught the attention of Fender, who featured him and his Vintera III Jaguar in a collaborative post, a significant nod from one of the most iconic names in guitar for an independent artist building his profile.
With rising monthly Spotify listeners, a growing international following, and a tour date at Moon Club in Lisbon this month, ANIBAL de los Reyes is at an early but undeniable inflection point. The sad songs are resonating. The math pop is catching. And the guitarist making both is just getting started.
Follow ANIBAL on Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram @anibal.delosreyes
